Welcome to the OARC e-magazine

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1 Welcome to the OARC e-magazine APRIL 2012 Next Club Meeting/Activity 3rd Saturday 21 April 2012 Topic: (1) Inside VE Test Sessions by Rick Morrison W7RIK (2) Golden Spike Special Event Station W7G - Past and Future Kim Owen KO7U Larry Griffin AD7GL Gary Hudman KB7FMS John Shupe K7DJO President Vice President Secretary Treasurer Gil Leonard KF7KPL Dave Woodcock KF7PAV Val Campbell K7HCP Program Director Activity Director Webmaster/NL Editor

2 PREVIOUS CLUB MEETINGS 3rd Saturday 17 March 2012 American Red Cross The Emergency Mobile Communications Center Scott Vest presented to the club members present at the most recent club meeting a very interesting topic regarding The American Red Cross and Disaster Preparedness. Scott was assisted by Ted Steinhorst KA2BIG. The presentation was very impressive and interesting. Scott is certified by the Red Cross as an operator for one of several Red Cross Emergency Communications vehicles. He told us about some of the equipment on board the vehicle and the capabilities it houses. Be sure to read the article from Ted Steinhorst at the end of this newsletter: Volunteering with the Red Cross Thank you Scott and Ted for taking time out of your very busy lives to share with us your passion to volunteer and serve the citizens of America.

3 NEXT CLUB MEETING When: 3rd Saturday 21 April 2012 Time: 9:00 AM Location: Riverdale Fire Station Topic: (1) Inside VE Test Sessions by Rick Morrison W7RIK Rick Morrison W7RIK will take us through the process of becoming a VE volunteer and share with us the typical proceedings and procedures that are exercised during a typical VE test session. (2) Golden Spike Special Event Station W7G - Past and Future The next Golden Spike special event >>> (Wed-Fri) May 2012 JOIN OARC Renew your membership now! Membership in the Ogden Amateur Radio Club is open to anyone interested in Amateur Radio. You do not need an amateur license to join us. You do not need to join the club to participate with us. Dues are used to operate the club, field day activities, and repeater equipment maintenance. Joining is easy. Come to a club meeting or fill out an application form from the club website. Instructions for mailing it are on the form. DUES: Dues are $15.00 per person and runs September - August. Additional family members are $8.00 each. NOTE: New Hams >>> Membership in OARC is complimentary for remainder of 1st year licensed.

4 FROM KIM S SHACK Kim Owen KO7U President CQ ALL Members and Friends of OARC Is this a GREAT club or what? The support that I get from our club officers and board members is super! For me it makes my role in the club fun. Truly, I have the easiest job in the club. I am pleased to call all our club officers and board members my friends. I want to highlight our club directors at this month. I want to thank our Program Director (officially, Director #1) Gil/KF7KPL for the great and diverse program topics that we have had at our club meetings. The meetings that Gil has put together are second to none! I thought the presentation last month from Scott Vest from the American Red Cross was very interesting. And of course we have a real gem a rock in our own Mike Fulmer/KZ7O. His February presentation on Antenna Modeling software was very well done. I thought it was a difficult topic but his presentation was polished. Our Activity Director (Director #2) Dave/KF7PAV put together a great activity for our Christmas Dinner in December. I expect that as we are quickly approaching the time of year when there are many activities over the next few months, that we will see the same excellence as our December dinner activity. Next month we will be activating the Golden Special Event at the historic park in Promontory followed by Field-day in June. Ask Dave if you can help! You will have fun.

5 Our club meeting this month will be a mix of two topics. All of us have taken one or more FCC Amateur Radio examines for our license that we hold, but do you know what goes on in the background to make the testing possible? Mary/W7UE and Rick/W7RIK are Co-VE Liaisons for OARC. Together they lead a team of VEs (Volunteer Examiner) that provide amateur radio testing opportunities for the public. Rick will be giving us a presentation on VE Test Sessions. I think you will be surprised to learn what they do and the impact that technology has made on test sessions for many of us, do you remember the endless wait to see if you passed you test and what about wait for months to get your license in the mail? Following the VE topic, we will start the 2012 Golden Spike Special Event. We will be talking about our past Golden Spike Special Events and planning our activities in May. A signup sheet with a schedule of operating times at the historic park will be circulated and Sara Morris/KB7FXV will be present if you want to order a patch, shirt or hat too. Also see May 2012 QST page 91 for the Golden Spike Special Event station announcement. For now, 73 de Kim/Ko7U

6 Club Badges OARC Club badges are still available for all club members and non-members. The cost is $8.00 each. You can order the badge with either a PIN clip or a MAGNETIC clip. Badge includes your Call Sign in large letters and your First Name in a somewhat smaller font in white lettering on a pitch black background. See example below. Place your order along with $8.00 in advance for each badge ordered and specify Pin or Magnet style fastener, Call Sign and First Name. Contact any club officer via or see them at the next club meeting. See web site Club Officers page. Club Swapmeet SALE or WANTED ITEMS NEEDED OARC s O-bay (On-Line Swap-Meet) items needed for the web site... Visit then click on Obay-Swap.

7 CLUB NEWS Utah Hamfest July 2012 (bryce Canyon - Ruby Inn) NOTICE: It will soon be time to celebrate the driving of the Golden Spike. OARC participates in this event by operating a special event station with the call sign of W7G. The following notice will appear in the QST magazine the month preceding the event. Stay tuned for more details as they become available.

8 CLUB NEWS Alvin Miles Phillips W7HS (sk) Born in Ogden, Utah on Apr. 21, 1918 Departed on Mar. 4, 2012 and resided in Marriott-Slaterville, UT. Marriott-Slaterville Alvin Miles Phillips passed away peacefully in his sleep. He was welcomed into the spirit world by his sweetheart Freda and son Larry. Dad was born April 21, 1918 along with his twin brother Melvin, to their parents Melvin Truman Phillips and Marion Jones in Ogden, Utah. He was raised on a farm in Wilson Lane and graduated from Weber High School in He also attended Weber College. He enlisted in the US Navy Reserves in He moved to Miami Florida and worked in a Medical Clinic for his Uncle, Dr. Kenneth Phillips. He returned home to Ogden and married Freda Bowns June 4, 1941 in the Salt Lake LDS Temple, and then they both returned to Florida and both worked in the Clinic. They returned home shortly after Pearl Harbor and Dad hired on with the Signal Corps at the Ogden Air Depot (HAFB) as a radio and radar repair technician. He attended Air Force schools at Dayton Ohio, Philadelphia and Chicago. He also worked for KLO radio station for seven years as a radio engineer. In 1952 he founded Weber Radio Communications and TV Service. He designed, installed and serviced two-way radio systems for public safety and industrial users in Northern Utah, Southern Idaho and parts of Wyoming. He was the Motorola Communications Service Station for Northern Utah. He retired from Motorola April 21, He was known as an honest businessman. He has held an FCC Amateur Radio Station license since 1936, with call signs W6NPU, W7NPU, W4IHV, W7HS and commercial first class radiotelephone and telegraph licenses. He enjoyed operating his Ham radio station W7HS, fishing, reading, gardening and looking forward to his winter visits with Diane and Jim in Florida. His Florida friends called him "spirit of greatness", also 'pops" He was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints. He served as an Elder and held various positions. He is survived by daughters, Shirley Hill of Clearfield, UT, Diane (Jim) Smith of Miami, FL, Karen (Mike) Stevenson of Marriott-Slaterville, UT and Cheryl (Ernest) Crawford of Twin Falls, ID; 10 grandchildren; 14 great-grandchildren; two brothers, Melvin of Sacramento, CA, Theron of West Haven, UT and one sister, Dalene Muir of Clinton, UT. He was preceded in death by his parents; wife; son and a great-granddaughter. Special Thanks to Vista Care Hospice, Necha, Tammy, Brandi, Bridget, Phil and Amanda. Funeral Services will be held at 11 a.m. on Monday, March 12, 2012 at Myers Ogden Mortuary, 845 Washington Blvd. Friends may call at the mortuary on Sunday, March 11th from 6 to 8 p.m. and Monday prior to the service from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. Interment will be at the West Weber Cemetery, where Military Honors will be accorded.

9 MORE CLUB NEWS Elwood George Fronk K7DJS (sk) Elwood was born in 1924 in West Weber. He was raised in the Ogden area and graduated from Ogden High School. He served in the Army during WWII in the Pacific and then reenlisted in the newly created U.S. Air Force after the war. After he returned he worked for and retired from the Ogden Defense Depot. He was a member of Army MARS until recently. He held a General class license and when not checking into an Army MARS net he liked to operate from his camper using his portable antennas. He was a member of the Ogden Amateur Radio club in past years and was an Emergency Radio Communicator with the South Ogden Stake of the LDS Church. Only a few OARC members knew Elwood but you might recognize his name or call sign from the Obay online swapmeet from time to time. Elwood recently sent his last CQ and QSY to the hear-after. 73 & 88

10 HOBBY NEWS Morse Code Veteran By Kent Gardner WA7AHY A wonderful thing happened at the Veteran's Home the other day. Something that hit home like nothing I have experienced in years. My father-in-law, in his mid-eighties, was admitted to the Veteran s Home several months ago because of medical problems related to age with dementia. His son and my wife and I visit him almost every day. His room is in the wing that has limited access. As part of their on-going activity plans they invited families of the veterans to eat lunch with them. My wife and her brother were both working that day and were unable to attend so I filled in for them. We enjoyed a lunch of Subway style sandwiches. I was assigned to a table with two other veterans and their wives. Both vets were disabled to the point that each wife had to feed them. Both of the wives were very enjoyable to talk to and they both shared their stories of how they met their husbands and their experiences in the military. One was a signalman on board a ship that participated in the atomic/hydrogen bomb tests near Bikini Atoll. The other was a soldier in Korea and was a military courier during that political action. I began to wonder how I could approach the signalman and become his friend. While in my radio shack I spotted my wife's code practice oscillator that I got for her when she tried to become a Novice some years ago. I cleaned the key contacts and got it working okay and I took it with me to the home during one of my visits to see my father-in-law. The very first day I had it with me I was just entering the day room where most of the patients were participating in some group activities. My friend the signalman happened to be shuffling towards me. I showed him the key and he immediately wanted to touch it. I placed it on the nurse's cart about chest high. Although seemingly half asleep, he immediately started to send clearly and distinctly. Dah di dah dit Dah dah di dah Dah di dit Dit. C Q D e Then the rest was gibberish as he struggled to remember any more of the code. Out of a deteriorating mind of a proud veteran came something that once you learn you seemingly never forget...cq de. His smile was worth a thousand words as it were. He came out of his half-drowsy condition and weakly apologized to me for not doing better with the code. This made me wonder right away if he was a ham operator since I didn t think Navy operators used the CQ signal. About four days later, I had another chance to show him the code oscillator. Again, clear as a bell, he sent another CQ de. It didn t matter the shape of his mind, he still had CQ burned into his memory. His wife later confirmed that he had indeed been a ham operator, but it was years since he was licensed. Even with all those years of not operating he, still could send CQ. In just a few days he took a turn for the worse and has since passed away. It seems that the power of Morse code showed itself..getting through when nothing else seems to. TNX Kent, WA7AHY

11 GUEST ARTICLE Free Circuit Design Tools for Ham Radio By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU About a week ago, I started looking for a schematic capture program so that I could easily generate some simple schematics for my upcoming Extra Class study guide. Since I use a Mac as my main computer, I first asked on the Ham- Mac mailing list if anyone knew of a good one. I got several recommendations, including: - Diptrace ( - Eagle ( and - McCad ( Eagle looked like a good choice, although several people mentioned that the user interface left much to be desired. Then, I remembered that I had OmniGraffle, which is a general-purpose diagramming tool. Googling around, I found several sets of electronic symbol libraries that could be used with OmniGraffle. I installed them, and generated a couple of figures for the study guide section that discusses T- network and pi-network filters. It was a reasonably good solution to my problem. A Web solution A couple of days ago, though, someone on the local Maker mailing list, pointed me towards CircuitLab ( an online schematic capture tool and circuit simulator. I haven t tried the circuit simulation yet, but the schematic capture tool is really easy to use. It's much easier to use for drawing circuit diagrams than OmniGraffle. Another benefit is that it doesn't matter what computer you're using. Because it runs in a Web browser, it doesn't matter whether that browser is running on a Mac or a PC or even a Linux box. If you set up an account, you can save circuits to your "workbench." To get you started, there are some sample circuits, such as the 555 timer circuit shown in Figure 1. There s also some decent documentation and a forum where you can discuss circuits and get some help. Finally, the price is right, too. It looks like using CircuitLab is completely free. I couldn t find any pages that required payment.

12 ============================================================== When not searching the Web for circuit design tools, you'll find KB6NU working 30m CW and twittering away about his contacts. His Twitter id He would love for you to follow him there. If you don't tweet, you can still read his blog at

13 FEATURE ARTICLE Volunteering with the Red Cross by Ted Steinhorst KA2BIG This is a follow-up to our presentation on the 17 th of March. The American Red Cross of Northern Utah has numerous volunteer opportunities in core service areas, including: disaster/emergency services, community education and preparedness, service to armed forces, international services, and health and safety. To get involved with the Red Cross of Northern Utah just submit an application, which can be obtained from our website at the Chapter office in Ogden, or via if you contact the volunteer coordinator directly. The volunteer coordinator, Leslie Hicken, is available to answer any questions you may have and can be reached by phone at (801) or by at leslieh@redcrossutah.org. Once you have submitted an application Leslie will arrange an interview and help you find a good fit as a volunteer with the Red Cross. There are many ways volunteers can focus their time. One of the most rewarding and most thoroughly trained needs are DAT (Disaster Assistance Team) members who regularly assist clients who have had a house fire. House fires are the leading disaster in the Red Cross and DAT members arrive on the scene to assist those who have lost a home to a fire by providing meals, clothing and temporary shelter. Other needs are non-response oriented such as public presentations, teaching, humanitarian law and Armed Forces Services. As a volunteer, you can take classes, such as CPR, First Aid and AED (using an Automatic Electronic Defibrillator) for free, and training is available either in Ogden, Salt Lake or on-line. On the national forefront, some of our volunteers sign up to go on large, national disasters floods, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc. Many of these national disaster volunteer jobs are highly skilled, and therefore require specialized training available online and in-class. On a large disaster the choice of jobs can vary, ranging from ferrying Red Cross personnel between locations, to feeding and sheltering clients, to damage assessment and government liaisons, plus enough other assignments to keep hundreds busy they can't all be listed here! When you sign up for DSHR (the Red Cross' national disaster volunteer database) you'll choose three different jobs of interest. Then you can choose your availability dates (when you would be available to go on a large disaster for example August 6 through September 30 good dates to be available for hurricane season). If a disaster occurs between those dates the Red Cross will contact you, supply you with a debit card to cover your expenses, and provide transportation to the disaster. Typically, you'll only need to be at the disaster for three weeks or less.

14 Hams usually gravitate to DST (Disaster Services Technologies) where they set up networks, complete from the satellite dish to the laptops, faxes, printers, and IP (internet protocol) phones, at headquarters and service centers throughout the affected areas. DST supports Red Cross personnel by issuing cell phones and answering service calls. Yes, the Red Cross does use radios and we do set up radio gear out in the field for headquarters and kitchens, and do simple radio repair work on our ERVs (Emergency Response Vehicles), which carry hot food and cleaning supplies to affected areas. If nothing else, you'll come home with the knowledge of what a huge disaster is like and what you can do to be better prepared for a large disaster locally with stories, first hand experiences and useful tips to share with other hams, family and church members. The coolest tool at our disposal are the Red Cross ECRVs (Emergency Communications Response Vehicles). These vehicles carry just about every communication device known to mankind! OK, so I exaggerate, but they do carry CBs, ham band and police radio gear, plus satellite capability and enough computers to equip a small office in the midst of the disaster. But sadly, there are not enough interested people in this area to have one assigned to the area. Being a specialty, it requires a bit of training, but with enough interest, the training is relatively easy to arrange. So, if you would like to volunteer with the Red Cross, contact us and we can get something going. The American Red Cross is down the street, across the country, and around the world. Come get involved! Red Cross Classes for April /5, Sat, 8-4, Ogden, ERV, Ready, Set, Roll 5/12, Sat, 9-2, Ogden, Shelter Operations/Simulation 5/16, Wed, 5:30-7:15, Ogden, Safe and Well Linking 5/22, Tue, 5:30-9:30, Salt Lake, Psychological First Aid 5/24, Thu, 9-4, Ogden, Client Casework Upcoming classes: If you know of classes you would like to have offered at our chapter, contact Nancy at the Northern Utah Chapter, phone We can also offer classes to any group if there are enough participants available. Registration is important classes can be canceled if too few people sign up, so please register. Remember, if there is enough interest generated amongst the ham clubs along the Wasatch Front, we could get an ECRV assigned to the area. Ted Steinhorst (KA2BIG) is a volunteer with the American Red Cross of Northern Utah and has written this article based on his own experiences as a volunteer tedsteinhorst@gmail.com

15 ANNOUNCEMENTS Next Club Meeting: 3rd Saturday 21 April 2012 The Ogden Amateur Radio Club meetings are usually held on the 3 rd Saturday of each month. Time:9:00 AM Location: Riverdale Fire Station Topic: Rick Morrison W7RIK WEBER CO - VE TEST SESSIONS Talk-in: (pl 123.0) Next Weber Co VE Test Session: 1st Wednesday 06 June 2012 Exam sessions are held in Ogden every few months, usually the first Wednesday in February, June, and October. Time: 05:00 PM Walk-ins allowed Location: New for June & October 2012 Ogden Public Safety Building 2186 Lincoln Ave Ogden Utah Contact: VE Liaison: Check OARC web site for details Please invite a friend to join you. You do not have to be a member of the club to participate in our club meetings or activities. We invite all to join us. Mary Hazard Rick Morrison Cost: $ w7ue@arrl.net ( ) morrisonri@msn.com ( ) If anyone is interested in doing a presentation on something or just have something unique to show at the meetings. - Please get a hold of any of the officers and let us know. Two forms of ID, one of which must be a picture ID. For "Upgrades" bring current license and a copy of current license, and any CSCE's Most calculators allowed. Calculator memories must be cleared before use.

16 Club Web Site Be sure to visit our club web site. Club membership is open to anyone interested in Amateur Radio. You do not need an amateur license to join us. Dues are used to operate the club, field day activities, and repeater equipment maintenance. You do not need to join the club to participate with us. Club Call Sign Listen to the club repeaters for this very familiar CW ID. You do know Morse Code don t you? W7SU ARRL Field Day is held on the last full weekend of June every year. Location may vary each year so watch this notice for details as time draws near. See you there. OARC REPEATERS FREQ CLUB TONE LOCATION OARC Mt Ogden OARC Mt Ogden OARC Talk-in Little Mtn (w/auto patch) OARC Little Mtn (w/auto patch) OTHER AREA REPEATERS FREQ CLUB TONE LOCATION UARC none Farnsworth Pk UARC Farnsworth Pk UARC Farnsworth Pk UARC Farnsworth Pk ATV UARC Ch-58 Farnsworth Pk DCARC Antelope Isl DCARC Antelope Isl DCARC No Salt Lake GSARC Brigham City GSARC Brigham City GSARC Brigham City GSARC Brigham City BARC none Logan BARC Mt Logan BARC Promontory Pt BARC Mt Logan WSU * coming soon WSU * coming soon K7HEN Promontory Pt N7TOP Promontory Pt N7TOP Promontory Pt IRLP/Echo Clearfield City IRLP Clearfield City IRLP Nelson Peak Summit County Lewis Peak

17 AREA CLUB MEETINGS & WEB SITES CLUB WEB SITE DATE/TIME LOCATION OgdenARC ogdenarc.org 3 rd Saturday 09:00 am Check OARC web site WC ARES WC Sheriff Comm-O ogdenarc.org/ join.html#ares 2 nd Thursday 06:30 pm Weber Co. Library Ogden Utah 1 st Saturday 10:00 am Weber Co. Sheriff Complex West 12 th Street Ogden Utah Barc barconline.org 2 nd Saturday 10:00 am Cache Co. Sheriffs Complex 200 North 1400 West Logan Ut CSERG dcarc.net /ares.htm/ Last Wednesday 8:30pm Clearfield City Hall Clearfield Utah DCarc dcarc.net 2 nd Saturday 10:00 am Davis Co. Sheriff Complex Farmington Utah NU Ares Uarc home.comcast. net/~noutares/ xmission.com /~uarc/ 3 rd Wednesday 7:00 pm Cache Co. Sheriff Office Logan Utah 1 st Thursday 7:30 pm UofU EMC Bldg Room 101 Salt Lake City Utah GSarc Ubetarc.org Check Website Check Website Utah DX Association UvhfS WDArc udxa.org ussc.com /~uvhfs/ westdesertarc. org/ 3 rd Wednesday check web page for details Each Tuesday 8:00 pm (refer to web site) check web page for details Salt Lake City area Weekly 2 meter net (no eye ball meetings) 1 st Tuesday 7:00 pm Tooele County Courthouse Tooele Utah WsuArc arcweber.edu 3 rd Thursday 5:30 pm WSU Blding #4 Room? Ogden Utah

18 LOCAL AREA NETS DATE CLUB FREQ 12:30 PM mt Utah Beehive net HF Mhz HF LSB 07:30 PM mt Utah Code net HF Mhz HF CW 02:00 UTC Utah Farm net HF Mhz HF LSB 8:45 AM Ogden Old Timers HF net Mhz HF LSB 7:30 PM GS ARC (training net) 8:30 PM SATERN Net :00 PM Morgan Co Net = simplex 9:00 PM UARC Info net no PL tone required 9:00 PM 2-meter SSB net Mhz 2-meter USB 8:00 PM Weber ARES :00 PM VHF Society Swap :00 PM Bridgerland ARC :00 PM GS ARC , , (all 123.0) 8:30 PM CSERG simplex 9:00 PM No. Utah 10m HF net Mhz HF USB 9:00 PM 6-meter SSB net Mhz 6-meter USB 6:30 PM Davis Co Elmers Net New Hams 8:00 PM Weber State ARC (coming soon) 8:00PM State RACES VHF/IRLP , rd Thursday - even months only 8:30 PM Davis ARES = simplex 9:00PM Wasatch Back Net :00AM mst RACES State HF Mhz HF LSB 3 rd Saturday odd months only 11:00AM mst QCWA net HF Mhz HF LSB

19 OARC OFFICERS President: Kim Owen KO7U Vice Pres: Larry Griffin AD7GL Secretary: Gary Hudman WB7FMS Treasurer: John Shupe K7DJO Program Director: Gil Leonard KF7KPL Activity Director: Dave Woodcock KF7PAV OTHER CLUB APPOINTMENTS Webmaster: Val Campbell K7HCP Historian/Librarian: Kent Gardner WA7AHY Advisor: Kent Gardner WA7AHY Advisor: Stan Sjol W0KP Photographer: John Shupe K7DJO QSL Manager: John Shupe K7DJO Equipment Manager: Val Campbell K7HCP WATTS NEWS e-magazine NL Editor: Val Campbell K7HCP Repeater Engineer: Mike Fullmer KZ7O VE Liaison: Mary Hazard W7UE and Richard Morrison W7RIK 73 es cul de W7SU